This invention is an improvement over our U.S. Pat. No. 6,402,522, the disclosure of which is incorporated herein by reference. This invention extends the advantages of U.S. Pat. No. 6,402,522 by providing an educational device especially suitable for very young children, such as children of about 3 to 5 years of age, that is those of preschool and kindergarten age, as well as children who are somewhat older but do not have developed fine motor skills, typically about 6 to 8 years of age, but possibly older.
The present invention relates generally to educational devices, more particularly to book-like educational devices such as hands-on workbooks, which permit preschool and kindergarten children to practice in a wide range of basic skills in a way that promotes a sense of self-confidence and joy.
Workbooks are well known in the educational field. A wide variety of workbooks have been developed to aid in teaching very young children fundamentals such as colors, shapes, numbers, and letters. Such workbooks are valuable instructional tools because they provide a diversity of formats and because exercises are typically sequenced from easiest to most difficult so that children can learn more easily and their progress can more readily monitored.
However, the conventional Pre-K workbooks, which employ the pencil as a traditional recording tool, have important limitations. The following will explain this statement in detail:
Preschoolers and some kindergartners often have not yet developed the fine motor skills necessary to use writing tools (such as pencils and crayons) to craft legible matching lines, circles, cross signs or color the pictures. In addition, some children erase frequently, causing their papers to become messy. When their papers are messy, children do not have a feeling of satisfaction because they do not receive a clear picture of their accomplishments. As a result, children try to avoid practicing learning skills. Dr. Sylvia Rimm, PhD, psychologist and a clinical professor of psychiatry and pediatrics at Case Reserve University School of Medicine, calls this problem as a “pencil anxiety.” She wrote: “The physical act of writing simply slows some children down and causes them to lose confidence in their abilities”. (On-line Questions Answered by Dr. Sylvia Rimm. http://www.wholefamily.com/aboutourkids/sylvia_rimm_qa/pencil_anxe=iety.html]). For this reason many educators suggest parents choose preschools with non-paper-and-pencil curriculum.
b) Although exercises in the conventional workbooks are generally enriched by fun drawings and interesting formats, many children find them boring. Young children, especially preschoolers and kindergartners, are reality-oriented learners. They succeed in concentrating, performing, and learning when the task allows them to be immersed in the task physically as well as mentally. They rather prefer to do something (sort, place, match, insert, and so on) rather than writing. Preschoolers benefit from experiences that support the development of fine motor skills in the hands and fingers. Accordingly, it is recommended that children have strength and dexterity in their hands and fingers before being asked to manipulate a pencil on paper. Gale Encyclopedia of Psychology: Fine motor skills states, Gale Group, 2nd edition, 2001: “Development of fine motor skills plays a crucial role in school readiness and cognitive development.” www.findarticles.com/p/articles/mi_g2699/is—0004/ai—2699000469/p—2
c) Conventional Pre-K workbooks do not develop children's self-checking and self-correcting habits, which are essential for building a success pattern. The checking mechanisms of some workbooks simply do not exist. For example, Giant Basic Skills, K-1 workbook, Modern Publishing, A Division of Unisystems, Inc., 2002, Homeworkbooks, Carson-Dellosa Publishing Company, Inc., 2002, doesn't have the answer key pages. Some workbooks have the intimidating format of the answer keys, which is appropriate for adult supervisors only and not for young children. For example, the answer key pages of the kindergarten workbook Beginning Phonics, 1997, pp. 64-72, Fisher-Price Inc., are presented in a reduced, two-dimensional, busy format. These formats repeat the exercises themselves with pluralities of pictures and additionally contain either matching lines, or circles, or shades, or colors. Children with poor discrimination skills are essentially unable to apprehend distantly differences between their answers and the answers provided on such keys.
d) All children like to demonstrate their correct results to others and be rewarded immediately. Barbara Willer, Ph.D., deputy executive director of the National Association for the Education of young Children (NAEYC) has stated “the overarching goal of any preschool should be to help a child feel good about himself as a learner and to feel comfortable in a school-like setting.” (Irene Daria-Wiener, On-line article “10 Signs of a Great Preschool” http://www.parents.com/parents/story.jhtml?storyid=/templatedata/parents/story/data/3232.xml).
The paper-and-pencil workbooks do not provide this opportunity to children. They do not have a self-corrective feature and they do not provide a visual and at-a-glance recognizable result.
e) All young children like to learn through play. Especially they like kid-friendly images and win-like situations. Dr. Sue Bredekamp, early education expert of the National Association for the Education of Young Children (NAEYC), stated: “Three- and four-year-olds are very active. Play is children's natural mode for learning.” (Jean Tepperman, On-line article: School readiness.”) http://www.4children.org/news/900ready.htm
Although the conventional Pre-K workbooks have plenty of kid-friendly images, they do not give children the feeling that it is a game and that they can be winners in this game.
f) Children, and especially children with memory problems, need to repeat exercises many times in order to acquire a particular skill. However, exercises in conventional workbooks that use a pencil can be used only once. Practically these books cannot be reused, because after the initial use, the answers remain in place for the user.
g) Teachers spend a great deal of time checking children's written answers. This procedure is inefficient and too time consuming, especially for large class instruction as well as when grading even smaller groups of preschoolers and kindergarteners. As a result the teacher is not able to have sufficient time to provide guidance and prompts for the slow learners.
h) Good programs in preschools, childcare centers, and kindergartens prepare children not only academically, but also teach them to act as team members. Conventional workbooks do not give the teacher the opportunity to create a team. Rather, each works independently and lacks the advantages of peer tutoring and cooperation. With conventional workbooks it is impossible to have a visual picture of the whole group results.
Therefore, a long-standing need has existed to provide preschoolers and kindergartners with alternative workbooks, which permit very young children to record their answers without having to use a pencil. These workbooks should develop children's self-checking and self-correcting habits, providing the easy-to-check answer keys and self-corrective feature. Using these workbooks children should be immersed in a fun easy-to-manipulate hands-on activity, which will give them a feeling of a game and that they are winners in this game. Also these workbooks should permit children to repeat exercises again and again.
Further, there is a continuing need to provide a teacher with an instructional tool that saves time by giving the teacher the opportunity to rapidly, at a glance check students' works.
Moreover, there is a need to provide a teacher with an instructional tool that gives the opportunity to create a cooperative atmosphere in the classroom through peer tutoring and by giving children the visual picture how well the group works as a team.
The workbook disclosed in our prior U.S. Pat. No. 6,402,522 contains hand-held booklet with series of problems with color-coded selectable answers and a flat answer card having movable colored tabs. Children record their answers by inserting the selected colored tabs into the corresponding holes on the answer card. Children can check their own work by comparing site-by-site the colors of the tabs with the colors on the answer key. No pencil is used, answer keys are easily readable, and exercises can be repeated many times since there is no trace of earlier responses.
The answer card of our prior patent with punched holes and colored movable flexible tabs inserted into the holes provides the following advantages:
1) The answer card is flat and compatible with a book format. This card is enclosed essentially as a bookmark. This feature allows keeping the usual format of a workbook and provides convenience in operating and storing.
2) The holes/tabs design provides the exact tabs fixation on the answer card. This feature is necessary for the site-by-site self-checking procedure.
3) The tab creates a sufficient colored spot, which is also needed for comparing the colors of the tabs with the colors on the answer key.
4) The card is self-contained. The movable colored tabs in storing position are inserted in the holes of the answer card. In this manner, they cannot be misplaced and no additional storing device is needed.
5) The plastic flexible tabs are not consumable and can be used as many times as needed. It is very important feature that there is a single answer card for all exercises of the book and thereby giving children an opportunity to repeat exercises again and again.
Experience and testing has shown, that the manipulating activity with movable colored tabs is enjoyable and fun for those students who have sufficient finger dexterity to easily take off and to insert the tabs in the holes of the answer card. This activity is similar to lacing activity intended for children 5 years old and up.
However, for preschoolers and kindergartners (3-5 years old), and for older children with poor fine motor skills, this task (taking off and inserting tabs in the holes) is difficult and therefore not pleasant. Gale Encyclopedia of Psychology, Fine Motor Skills, 2nd ed. Gale Group, 2001 states: “The central nervous system (of preschoolers) is still in the process of maturing sufficiently for complex messages from the brain to get to the child's fingers. Only by the age of five (kindergartners), most children have advanced beyond the fine motor skill development of the preschool age.” www.findarticles.com/p/articles/mi_g2699/is—0004/ai—2699000469/p—2
Also, there is considerable variation in fine motor development among the preschool age group of children. This is why some children would insert tabs in the holes of the answer card very quickly, while some children are able to accomplish this task only with help of supervisor. This means that the teacher has to given attention to those children and therefore he/she does not have the opportunity to effectively provide a group instruction.
Also, the workbooks with movable colored tabs do not provide children with kids-friendly images, which are important elements of play and reliable agents for reinforcements. These images add an element of excitement to the monotony of repetition.
A variety of books are currently on the market that is provided with manipulative pieces for use with book. Some children's books have had magnetic pieces or stickers that can be applied to the pages to complete a missing part of either a pictorial or verbal story (U.S. Pat. No. 5,820,383 to Levins, U.S. Pat. No. 3,496,653 to Wolfner, U.S. Pat. No. 4,702,700 to Taylor, U.S. Pat. No. 5,447,439 to Nathanson, U.S. Pat. No. 4,832,605 to Bragin).
Patent No. WO02069303 to Kruger discloses an activity book with set of three-dimensional objects that are attachable to the pages of the book. These three-dimensional work pieces are belts, buttons, curtain hooks, curtain rings, necklaces, a chain with a lock and key, leather strips, paper clips, pipe cleaners, ribbons, elastic bands, shoe laces, string, or zip fasteners. Different work pieces are intended to complete different activities. Each page describes some specific activity, which has to be completed by children.
Although the prior art devices may be generally satisfactory for their intended purposes, they are not satisfactory to extend the workbook of U.S. Pat. No. 6,402,522 for successful use by preschool and kindergarten age children.
It is apparent an improvement over our U.S. Pat. No. 6,402,522 that for preschool and kindergarten age children and for children with poor fine motor skills there is need for allowing these children to easily manipulate flat colored work pieces on the answer card and provide an exact fixation of these work pieces in the storing and answering positions on the answer card. The work pieces, being not consumable, are of a size sufficient to compare colors. The self-checking and self-corrective features could be strengthened by child-friendly images, which appear at the moment of comparing correctness of answers.